Seasonally adjusted employment data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that staffing industry employment increased last month, adding 21,100 jobs (up 0.9% from March to April). In a year-to-year comparison, temporary help employment for the month was 8.7% higher than in April 2011.

U.S. nonfarm payroll employment in April rose by 115,000, a significantly lower rate of job creation than the 252,000 monthly average noted from December 2011 through February 2012. In April, most of the employment growth was driven by new job creation in professional and business services, retail trade, health care, and manufacturing; declines were noted in transportation and warehousing.

“Businesses continue to embrace flexible staffing solutions as they navigate through this bumpy recovery,” says Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “For workers, this means more opportunities to get a foot in the door with companies that are ramping up their temporary and contract work forces.”

Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that the staffing industry added 47,900 jobs (up 2.0%) March to April. On a year-to-year basis, there were 8.2% more staffing employees in April than in the same month of 2011.